Tsurumi Ward in Osaka has been the scene of a crime wave since November 3 in which two young boys believed to be in the fifth or sixth grade have stolen cash and property from six separate homes so far. The suspects are still at large, unless class is in session.

In this digital age, it’s hard to imagine life without technology at our every beck and call, our cell phones in particular. While smartphones have only been mainstream for a decade or so, most of us have a hard time remembering life before them, and would be hard-pressed to go a day without one.

But how far would you go to keep from losing your precious phone/lifeline? Would you run out into traffic? Jump into a frigid lake? Or, do as this guy did and stick your hand deep down into a toilet? If you would do the latter, just be sure you don’t get your arm stuck and require the fire department to come to your rescue.

Anyone who has ever been on board a commercial flight would have probably noticed that aircraft lavatories tend to be smaller than regular public restrooms. Compact as they may be, though, the toilets on most commercial airlines provide enough room for an adult to get their business done. In fact, we’ve even heard of all those “mile high club” stories, so it’s probably all right to assume that those minimalistic restrooms are spacious enough for even two adults to slip in.

However, one Chinese mom on board a Shenzhen Airlines domestic flight felt that the toilet was too small, and made her son defecate on the floor of the rear cabin.

“With my pants around my ankles, I stared at the toilet bowl for a while. Finally a dark cloud spread through the water. What is this bloody stuff in my urine?! I thought looking at its poisonous color, it was as if someone slowly poured a cola into the bowl. What the hell kind of pee is this, and what is going on inside me?!”

The following is a real experience of one of our writers when he found a worrisome discoloration in his pee. His name is Yuichiro Wasai, but after reading this you’ll know enough about him to be on a first-name basis. It’s a story worth reading, however. The cause of Yuichiro’s condition is rare but could happen to you or someone you know, and this knowledge may help.

Step by step China has been steadily gaining on Japan in various facets of life. The country has surpassed Japan to become the second biggest economy in the world and they are currently making strides in bullet train development and infrastructure.

But now a video from a Thai traveler gives us a glimpse at yet another way China is looking to overtake Japan, and it is one that may cut closest to the bone. We’re talking of course about fancy toilet technology.

Although April Fools’ Day is the prime time for playing tricks on your friends, that doesn’t mean the other 364 days of the year are completely off-limits. One Japanese man recently devised a very silly plan to startle his friend, but an unplanned turn of events left the trickster himself surprised and embarrassed.

We don’t spend much of our day on the toilet, but the overall cleanliness or ambience of the restroom makes those couple of minutes either pure bliss or complete torture. If you had a choice, obviously you would prefer to take a dump in a nice, cleanly environment, wouldn’t you?

To create the most conducive environment for one of life’s most important businesses, some decorate their restrooms with flowers, and some even leave a mini library of books and magazines in there. The Japan Unko Society, however, has a “painful” toilet fully decorated with anime-style characters!

Your home is your sanctuary. It’s a place where you can relax and just be yourself without any distractions from the outside world. So, it should be a place that feels secure and private. But, when you own a pet, you quickly come to understand that the privacy you seek completely disappears. Even the most isolated room in the house, the bathroom, isn’t safe from your furry compatriot.

This is especially the case if you are a cat owner. As much as cats are independent animals and do things as they wish, they become really needy when their owners disappear to answer the call of nature. Find out how cats pierce the veil of privacywhen their owners go to the bathroom after the jump.

Between the futuristic Blade Runner-esque toilets and the slightly terrifying (but healthier for you) traditional squatters, Japanese restrooms can be a bit intimidating for a first-time user. And even for those who have lived in Japan for a while, using a public toilet can still be a daunting task. So to better understand restroom woes for those coming from overseas, Japanese toilet manufacturer Toto recently surveyed 600 foreigners living in Japan about toilets in the country and what confuses them most.

A bizarre death occurred in the Kabukicho area of Shinjuku, Tokyo recently as a 22-year-old woman died after falling nine stories during a visit to the restroom. Although suicide hasn’t been entirely ruled out, this appears to be a case of highly unusual building practices as a door opening onto a sheer drop was also present in the room.